"Labor advocate and garment manufacturer Ben Goldstein, with the support of his wife Beatrice, left to The Library of Congress -- and the nation -- a collection of American prints and drawings informed by a sympathy for the condition of working people.

A native New Yorker, over decades he collected works that stirred his very personal interest in the city of his birth, the American people, and the human condition during the first half of the twentieth century. His concerns encompassed a broad spectrum of social and political issues that touched on life in urban centers and in rural areas, American labor and industry, and the experience and achievements of minority groups."